


Works For Us

by MelyndaR



Series: The Primaries [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, Platonic Soulmates, Polyamory, Triadverse, gaining color in your sight as you gain soulmates, sort of triadverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-18 05:25:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5900002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelyndaR/pseuds/MelyndaR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In soulmates, they didn't get exactly what they'd expected to, and they're not sure how to make this work - but in the end, for them, it does work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Works For Us

They’re three men, scarred in their own way and scared of so many things. But they’re also superheroes. Their demons, they each think privately, outweigh the heroics most days. They don’t say that in public. It takes them a long time before they’re even willing to admit it to each other.

But slowly, they do. They get to know each other, they talk things through, they share things - things that they own, and things that they  _ are.  _

It takes them a ridiculously long time to get around to the white elephant of a conversation that they need to have.

Tony is red. Bright and dark and volatile and surprising. Red - the color, he knows, of death and life, parties and purgatory. And Tony, he eventually admits, does not want long-term romance. So this soulmate triad he’s in works for him - as long as they understand that there will  _ always  _ be other women coming in and out of his life on the side. Good thing his soulmates don’t care what he does in his love life.

Steve is blue. Calm and collected and soothing and layered. Blue is the color of rivers and skies, uniforms and flags - things that are always changing but are always the same. Steve, for one, relates to this. Steve is the one to admit that he simply doesn’t trust the idea of romance anymore. He doesn’t want to open himself up like that again, so this soulmate triad works for him. Tony makes an ill-timed  joke about a vow of celibacy, but later is more than willing to hold Steve’s hand the entirety of the first time the super-soldier visits Peggy Carter’s nursing home room.

Bruce is a touch more complicated for Steve and Tony - or anyone - to iron out, in that he’s yellow. He always has been, of course, but most of the time he scoffs at it. Some people think that’s there’s a lot of a person’s psychology wrapped up in what color you’re born seeing, but Bruce hasn’t believed that since the “other guy” came around. “Yellows” are born seeing sunlight and sunflowers, canaries and gold, and it’s said that they are the bright ones, the optimists, the people who are  _ truly  _ good in this world. And, according to himself, Bruce is none of those things - nor is he sure he ever was. He’s an odd case of a “yellow,” and he knows it, but in the end, he explains, it’s the  _ green  _ that makes this triad a good arrangement for him. No women means no sex, which means no accelerated heart rate from sex - which is good.

Slowly, though, they start to see that being a part of this odd soulmate triad could bring them more than just a safeguard against the things that they don’t want. Tony doesn’t want commitment, but he discovers that Steve is almost always a willing, comfy pillow when he wants to cuddle. Steve doesn’t want romance, but he craves friendship like a drug - and Tony and Bruce are more than happy to give him that. Bruce doesn’t want sex, but he’s never felt safer or more at peace with his demons than when he’s curled up in bed between his two best friends.

Because that’s what they are. They’re each other’s - unlikely - best friends and soulmates, and that’s more than enough.


End file.
